Prize Play
by Julian Pottage

Please look at the play question below and give your answer. Please include a brief explanation.

There are three categories in our competition: up to and including Master; for those up to and including Regional Master; and for those with higher ranking.

Dealer Vuln	A J 8 K J 7 4 A K 8 Q 10 5
	Q Q 10 8 5 3 2 7 4 2 A K 8

West	North	East	South
		21	3
3	4NT	Pass	5
Pass	6	All Pass

West leads the ten of spades. What is the best line for the contract?

Entries to: Julian Pottage, 17 Beach Road, Porthcawl, CF36 5NH or email. Entries need to arrive by 30 June 2010. Please state on the top left hand corner of the envelope your postal addrss. Julian Pottage will judge the entries and the first correct answer that he draws in each categroy will win a prize from our EBU Shop, as below:

Master: Winning Bridge at Home, by Tony Forrester.

Regional Master: The Wei to Good Bridge, by Kathy Wei-Sender and Martin Hoffman.

Higher Ranking: Great Hands I Wish I had Played, by Sally and Raymond Brock.

All above books are available at the EBU Bridge Shop -- have a look here.

Answer to Tournament Focus IV Play Quiz

	A J 3 K 9 3 A 5 4 2 J 5 2
K 9 6 5 4 Q 7 5 8 10 8 6 3		Q 10 7 2 10 8 4 2 9 3 Q 9 7
	8 A J 6 K Q J 10 7 6 A K 4

You play in 6 after an uncontested auction.

West leads the five of spades.

You have possible losers in hearts and clubs. You could simply combine the chance of a doubleton queen of clubs with the heart finesse and the possibility that one of the queens is bare. There is a better line, making even when none of those things work so long as West has the queen of clubs or East the ten of hearts. You need to remove the defenders’ safe exit cards and arrange for them to attack hearts.

Put up the ace of spades and ruff a spade (entries to dummy are scarce). Draw trumps ending in dummy and ruff another spade. Then play ace, king and another club. The bad news is that the queen does not fall and that East wins the third club. On the heart return (a black suit would give you a ruff and discard), you play low from hand (or cover the ten with the jack). Now something good happens: West’s queen pops up. If West were able to play the ten of hearts, you would still be able to fall back on finessing East for the queen.

The winners are:

Open: Andrew King, Grimsby. Andrew has won Celestial Cardplay by David Bird
Regional: Philip Hunt, West Sussex. Philip has won Famous Bidding Decisions by Terrence Reese and David Bird.
Master: Henry Lockwood, Cambridge. Henry has won The Bridge Adventures of Robin Hood by David Bird.